The Shinobimon Trilogy
by Jack
Summary: While on patrol in the digital world the digidestines are attacked without thier digimon with them and are saved by a cloaked figure. What is it? Digimon, human or something else that is not what it seems? Chapter 3 - Revelations: The truth revealed
1. Introductions

Introductions

Introductions

By Jack Manyon

Disclaimer: I own nothing that could get me sued.

This is the first story in a trilogy. 

It takes place during the reign of the Digimon Emperor. 

***

It was a wonderful sunny day in the digital world; everything smelled fresh and inviting after last night's rain. The flowers and trees glistened as the rain droplets mixed with the morning dew. This was one of the most beautiful mornings this area of the digital world has seen since the war against the digimon emperor started and everyone was going to take advantage of this well deserved break in the fighting.

Kari walked along the path in front of her admiring the scenery. She closed her eye and breathed in the fresh air filled with scent of flowers in bloom and all the greenery around.

"It's a beautiful day today," she sighed.

"It sure is," agreed Davis as he walked beside her.

"Yah, I love the morning after a rain, everything seems so new" chimed in T.K opposite Davis.

They spent a couple of minutes walking in silence as their digimon ran ahead playing in the grass and laughing excitedly.

"I wish we didn't have to be on patrol, we could be relaxing by a lake and taking it easy for once" said Davis, breaking the silence.

"I know how you feel, on a day like today it's hard not to just sit down and watch the digital world go by." Agreed Kari.

"Me too, but if we want to have more mornings like this we have to keep up the war against the evil forces of the digital world" said T.K, bringing a somber note to the discussion.

"Why did you have to bring that up?" complained Davis "I was trying to forget the war for at least a couple of minutes."

"Well, he's right Davis, we can't forget why we're here." Said Kari agreeing with T.K.

"I still think that we can't be on duty forever, all the time. We need a vacation once and a while." Countered Davis.

"Alright, we'll talk it over when we get back together with the others" said T.K

Continuing their walk down the path the three companions once again lapsed into another mutual silence. Their digimon had made it to the lake up ahead and were wadding in the water, splashing at each other and laughing, all except Gatomon who was content to sit on the shore and watch the other two.

"Oh no, I hope the storm's not coming back, I don't want to get wet" said Kari as she pointed to the dark shadow that had appeared over the path.

"That's not a cloud Kari. It's a snimon!" yelled T.K as he turned and pointed at the sky.

"Veemon! Help!" called Davis as the snimon descended towards them, razor sharp sickles razed.

"It's got a black ring! The Digimon Emperor's controlling it!" yelled Kari.

"Get down!" yelled T.K

All three digidestines as one threw themselves to the ground as a blade sliced the air their bodies were occupying just milliseconds ago. With their digimon still to far away to get to them in time, they all knew they were staring death in its ugly face. The snimon stood over them with its sickle razed ready to bring it crashing down, ending it all. Each closed their eyes ready for the end. 

Only, it did not come. The only sound they heard was the sickle coming down and a clang of metal against metal, then nothing. Each opened their eyes and saw the snimon's blade poised in mid air, un-moving. What was holding it there came to an even greater shock to the three; there standing above them was a caped figure dressed in black, he wore a hood over head and piece of cloth covering his mouth and nose so that only his eyes were visible. He stood there with a long curved sword in hand pushed against the snimon's blade holding it there with an amazing show of strength, the slight quiver of the blade was the only indication of the strain against the snimon's arm scythes.

He spoke to the three stunned kids under him, "You better get out from under here, I don't know how long I'll be able to hold him."

They wisely decided to follow his advice and hurried to get out of the way.

As soon as the three were out the caped figure let the sickle drop and parried the other with a swipe of his sword as he jumped out of range. As he landed, he reached into his tunic and removed two jagged metal pieces. 

Blocking another swipe, he pulled back his arm and cried "Iron Star!" and let fly with both shards towards the dark ring encircling the monster's middle. With twin impacts the stars found their mark, the black ring shattered and disappeared into nothingness. The snimon, released from the dark ring collapsed to the ground with a thud, too weak from the possession to move. 

The three just stared at the stranger as he calmly sheathed his sword and turned towards them. "Are you alright?" he said.

"We're fine, thanks for rescuing us," answered Kari, "Who are you?"

"My name is Shinobimon and you're welcome," said Shinobimon.

"Kari!" "Davis!" "T.K!"

They turned and saw their digimon running at full speed towards them.

"We heard you yell, and we thought you might be in troub…." Patamon's voice trailed off when he saw the form of the snimon laying unconscious on the ground.

"What happened here?" asked Gatomon.

"This snimon was under the Digimon Emperor's control and it attacked us, we were almost killed but Shinobimon here stopped him and destroyed the dark ring." Explained Davis.

"Who?"

"That digimon right over there," said T.K as he pointed to the spot were Shinobimon was.

They all turned to look but no one was there.

Shinobimon was gone.

* * *

"You mean he just disappeared?" asked Cody as the digidestines were walking through the park that was centered in the middle of the city, which provided a small amount of privacy anyone how was passing by.

"What I mean is, he was there in front of us, we turned around and when we turned back, he was gone." Said Davis.

"I've never heard of a digimon named Shinobimon," said Gatomon from her spot in Kari's arms.

"Has anyone ever seen a digimon like him?" asked T.K.

Everyone each shook his or her heads; no one had seen anything like him. He was a complete mystery to all of them.

"Well, from what you told us, it didn't seem that he was just passing by and saw you in trouble and decided to help," said Yoli, "or else he would have stayed instead of leaving."

"Yolei's right, I don't think that was the last we'll see of Shinobimon." Agreed Kari. "Anyway, he saved our lives so he must have some good intentions, I wouldn't mind having him here to cover our backs incase we do get into any more trouble."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they continued to walk towards the other side of the park. They talked about school and how their lives in general were going, about the upcoming summer vacations and of the war in the digital world. When they reached the other side they said goodbye and split up to head to their homes. It was getting late and they didn't want to miss dinner.

As Yolei was crossing the street in front of her apartment she was lost in thought.

"Wow a new digimon that no one has ever seen! I hope he really turns out to be good; I would like to meet him. I wonder where he came from? Is he really following us around or was this a coincidence that we met him? If it isn't, why hasn't he shown himself until now? I guess it's because…"

"Look out!"

The call jolted her mind to once again focus on what was going on around her. Looking around she realized that in her thinking she had stopped walking, right in the middle of the road! A loud honk drew her attention to a large moving van coming down the street and she was right in it's path! She stood frozen in fear not knowing what to do, her mind just couldn't grasp the immensity of the danger she was in and just shut down. The van honked once more and breaks squealed as the driver tried to stop but it was too close to stop in time. 

Yolei's brain finally managed to get some of itself working and got one cohesive thought through the fog in her mind: _Scream_. So she threw up her arms and screamed. She kept screaming until a weight slammed into her side, throwing her to the side and out of the incoming van's path which zoomed by a second later, it would have killed her if she were standing there still. 

Yolei opened her eyes; she was on her lying on her back face up to the evening sky above her. She also realized that she was lying on something, and that something just groaned. Realizing that she was lying on her rescuer, she quickly got off him. 

"Oh! Are you all right?" asked Yolei as she helped him off the sidewalk.

He was tall, as tall as she was. His hair was brown and covered his head in a thick mop. He was wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt under a blue open button down shirt that fluttered slightly in the wind in, what he hoped to be, a heroic manner. 

"Yah, I'm all right, the pavement broke my fall," he said rubbing his shoulder, "but I should be asking you the same question. What were you doing in the middle of the road anyway?"

"I guess I was so rapped up in what I was thinking about I wasn't looking were I was going." She said sheepishly.

"Well, be more careful next time ok?" he said "By the way, my name's Chris."

"I'm Yolei, thanks for saving me," she said as she shook Chris's hand.

"No problem, I try to save at least one beautiful girl each day." He said, smiling, "do you live around here? Would you mind if I walked you home?"

"No, not at all," she said, blushing, "That's my apartment over there."

"Well, let's go." He said as he took her arm.

_I think I'm in love._ Thought Yolei as they walked under the light of the streetlamps.

***

"Wow, you're real lucky that he was there when he was or you would have been in real trouble." Said Kari as the group walked along a path in the digital world.

"But Chris's not a usual name around here, where's he from?" asked T.K

"He said he's from America." Said Yolei.

"America? Then what's he doing in Japan?" asked Cody.

"He's just visiting I guess. He didn't actually say," Explained Yolei.

"Hello? Can we concentrate on why were here? We need to find Shinobimon and find out if he really is our ally." Interrupted Davis. "And we're probably giving every digimon within a mile a pretty good idea where we are! Shinobimon's probably as far away as he could get, we'll never find him!"

"Oh I don't know, he might be closer than you think." Came a quiet voice from behind them.

They all froze, hands on their digivices ready to send their digimon to attack the un-seen threat. Turning, their eyes widened as the speaker came into view. There, back against a tree, sat Shinobimon. Eyes closed and arms crossed, he looked almost asleep but the sword that lay unsheathed at his side warned anyone who might try to bother him to do so at their own risk.

"Were did he come from? He wasn't there a second ago." Said Davis as he stared at the new arrival.

"Wow, he's good." Said Gatomon approvingly.

"Thank you for the compliment Gatomon," said Shinobimon with a nod of thanks, eyes still closed, " As for your question about my allegiance Davis, I assure you I'm on your side."

"Oh yeah? Why should we believe you? For all we know, you could be working for the Digimon Emperor." Countered Davis.

"Because if I was, I would have let the snimon kill you instead of saving you." Responded Shinobimon coolly.

"He makes a good point Davis," said Kari, "But there's one thing I don't understand Shinobimon, why have you been following us? And for how long were you doing it?

"I have been keeping an eye on you digidestines for some time, just in case you get into any serious danger like the snimon yesterday." He said as he eyed the group.

"But why haven't we seen you before?" Asked T.K

"You've never gotten your selves into enough trouble that you couldn't get yourselves out of." He said, closing his eyes once again.

"Well I don't believe him," shouted Davis as he began pacing back and fourth, "Are we suppose to just believe a guy who until just now we didn't know existed, who says that he's been watching us but hasn't helped us in the least! Plus he keeps disappearing and reappearing? How can I trust a guy who won't stand still?"

Davis turned back towards the tree, ready to give Shinobimon another piece of his mind but the space under the tree was empty. 

He had disappeared again.

"I wish he would stop doing that." Sighed Davis.

***

As the digidestines neared the portal that would bring them home, Davis was getting himself all worked up over what just happened.

"Why can't he just stay put?" shouted Davis.

"You should calm down Davis, there's no point getting your self all worked up over this."

"Kari's right Davis, you should get some sleep. Once we get back to my room we should all call it a night," Agreed Yolei "Digiport Open!"

***

They all come tumbling out of Yolei's computer with the usual lack of grace and landed on the hard floor, right at the feet of a very surprised Chris.

Not missing a beat, Yolei said, "Guys, meet Chris Anderson. Chris Anderson, meet my friends." 

"Interesting friends." Said Chris.

***

End of part one.

***

So, What did you guys think? This is my first attempt at an action/adventure Digimon Fanfic.

This is the first of the trilogy. If you want to see more of Shinobimon or Chris, e-mail me. The next chapter will be coming soon. 


	2. Suspicions

Suspicions

Prologue 

As the digidestines neared the portal that would bring them home, Davis was getting himself all worked up over what just happened with Shinobimon.

"Why can't he just stay put?" shouted Davis.

"You should calm down Davis, there's no point getting your self all worked up over this."

"Kari's right Davis, you should get some sleep. Once we get back to my room we should all call it a night," Agreed Yolei "Digiport Open!"

***

They all come tumbling out of Yolei's computer with the usual lack of grace and landed on the hard floor, right at the feet of a very surprised Chris.

Not missing a beat, Yolei said, "Guys, meet Chris Anderson. Chris Anderson, meet my friends." 

"Interesting friends." Said Chris.

***

Suspicions

By Jack

This is the second chapter in the Shinobimon Trilogy.

***

After the initial introductions, Yolei spoke up, 

"Chris! What are you doing here?" said Yolei as she pushed herself off her bedroom floor.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Exclaimed Chris, his eyes wide with surprise. "I come over to see if you're alright then, one minute I'm here alone and the next you guys come spilling out of a computer!"

"Calm down Chris, just give us a second and we'll tell you." Said Davis to the nearly hysterical boy in front of him as he motioned the others into a huddle. "So, what are we going to tell him?" whispered Davis once the group was together.

"We could say he's dreaming all this." Suggested Cody.

"No, I don't think he'll go for it." Said T.K, "Anyone else?"

"We could knock him out."

"I don't think so Gatomon," said Yolei, "He may not look it but he's strong, when he pushed me out of the way of that truck I could feel it. He could put up fight and someone could get seriously hurt."

"Maybe we should tell him the truth." Said Kari.

Everyone just stared at Kari, not believing that she actually suggested that.

"Well," shrugged Kari, "he's already seen us come out of the portal. Besides, wouldn't it be good if we could talk to another kid who isn't a digidestined about our experiences?"

There were nods of approval going through the group as each one of them considered Kari's idea. It would be nice to tell another person about their secret. It would feel that they aren't alone fighting a war that no one knows about.

"I don't know, are you sure we can trust him?" asked Cody as he watched as Chris cautiously taped on the computer screen as if afraid it might reverse and suck him into it.

Everyone turned to Yolei. "Yes, I'm sure we can trust him, after all, who's going to believe him if he decides to tell someone?" she assured them.

"Ok, so who's going to tell him?" asked Davis.

"I'll tell him, he trusts me." Volunteered Yolei, "Chris, could you come over here?'

Startled out of his examination of the computer, Chris jumps slightly. "Uh, Ok."

"Ok, What I'm about to tell you may be a little, umm, unusual so you'd better sit down." Said Yolei gesturing towards the bed.

Once they were all seated around the room Yolei began. "Chris, do you believe that there are other alternate dimensions?"

"Uh, yah. I believe that there are more alternate realities than anyone can imagine." He said and paused a second, "Where are you going with this?" raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you're right. There are other dimensions, other realities, and we been to them. Well only one actually, it's called the digital world. It's made up entirely out of digitized data and is populated by all kinds of different creatures called digimon. We travel to this dimension through a computer by opening a gateway with these," she pulled out her D3 and showed it to him. "The reason we can do this is because we, as cliché as it sounds, were chosen to save the world. We're called digidestines and we are pared with a digimon to help us. Mine is Hawkmon, Kari has Gatomon, Davis, T.K and Cody have Veemon, Patamon and Armadilomon. And what you saw was the portal opening and us coming back through it from the digital world; unfortunately we haven't got the landings down yet."

After Yolei had finished her impromptu explanation of the digital world, everyone was watching Chris to see how the guy would take this life altering news.

He blinked. He blinked again. Slowly he got up off the bed and began pacing slowly across the room. "So your telling me that there you five with the help of monsters made up of purely computer data, travel to an alternate dimension in order to save it every day." He said calmly.

"Well, yes. Sounds crazy doesn't it? But it's all true." Said T.K

"I see…" Was all he said as he continued to pace across the room.

"For a guy who has just been told something that will alter the way he sees reality, you're taking it rather well." Commented Armadilomon.

"Hmmm? Oh, that's because I'm in shock. Once my brain gets around the sheer immensity of what you've just told me you'll get a bigger reaction." He said as he continued his pacing.

"Oh? And when will that be?" asked Davis.

"Let's see," said Chris, who had stopped and was considering his watch carefully, "Well, based on the scope of what you just told me, I should be coming out of the shock. Right. About. Now."

Instantly after saying 'Now', his eye's rolled up into the back of his head and tipped over backwards, landing with a loud thump on the floor.

"That was not the bigger reaction I was expecting." Remarked Hawkmon dryly.

***

Once the digidestines moved the insensate form of Chris onto the living room couch and had returned to Yolei's room, a pressing question presented itself.

"So, now what?" asked Davis.

"Good question Davis," agreed Cody, "Well, when he wakes up he probably will want to go the digital world and see it for himself."

"Can a non-chosen person go through the portal?" asked Yolei, turning to the two most experienced members on the team.

"I don't know. It's never come up before." Admitted Kari.

"Maybe we should talk to Izzy about this, he should know if it's possible." Suggested T.K.

"All right I'll go talk to him," volunteered Cody, "but what will we do with sleeping beauty in the other room?"

"We should let him rest, if it is possible for him go to the digital world, he'll need all the sleep he can get." Said Kari.

Nodding, Cody got up and left the others to plan their trip through the portal.

As he pasted through the rest of Yolei's house on his way to the front door, he was stopped by a sharp squeal from his digivice. Pulling it out, he looked at it trying to find what had caused it to sound the alarm.

"It's picking up another digivice." He said as he looked around the room, it was empty except the immobile form of Chris who was snoring slightly as he slept on the couch. "It's too faint to get a direction, it must be too far away. I should show this to Izzy." Quickly leaving the house, he headed towards the computer wizard's apartment.

***

"Come on, Come on." Pleaded Izzy as he tried to coax the program on the screen in front of him to show him what was keeping it from working. Sighing, he leaned back and took a sip from his now flat soda.

*Ding Dong*

Startled out of his reverie, he got up out of his chair and padded across the soft carpet towards the front door. Opening it he found a very out of breath Cody standing and panting heavily as if he had ran all the way here.

"Cody? What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I- I found another digivice." Said Cody gasping for breath.

"What?" Exclaimed Izzy. "Were? When? How?"

"I was just leaving Yolei's house to tell you about Chris when my digivice picked it up but it was too faint for me to tell a direction. I thought you might be able to help me tell where or what it is so we could find…"

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, who's Chris? And what do you need to tell me about him?" Said Izzy as he held up his hands to slow the speed of the information being thrown at him by the young kid in front of him.

"Chris saved Yolei life yesterday and came over today to see if she was alright but he saw us coming out of the portal from the digital world. So we decided that it would be good to have a non-chosen one to talk to about the digital world so we told him everything. He took it rather well until he fainted. We assumed when he woke up he would want to see the digital world but we didn't know if that was possible so I said I would come over here and ask you if it was possible or not. That's when I detected the new digivice, so I hurried over here to see if you could find out what it was. And that's why I'm here."

"Hmmm. You guys have been busy. I don't know if he can travel to the digital world but if one of you is there to open the portal, I don't see any problems. As for the new digivice you detected lets see yours. Maybe we can download the data to my computer so I can analyze it." He said as he motioned Cody inside and closed the door behind him.

***

Since the departure of Cody, Chris's snoring while quiet at first, had grown in intensity until it was at the point that it could be heard through the door to Yolei's room. 

"Wow! Chris's a real noisy sleeper!" Exclaimed Yolei.

"Yah, he's almost as loud as Davis!" Laughed Kari.

"Very funny, I'll go wake him up." Said Davis who was visibly upset that Kari was making fun of him. He got up and left the room.

"If Chris's going to be up, we should get Cody back here. We're going to need the whole team together just incase there's trouble and we need to protect him." Suggested T.K.

"Right, good thinking. I'll send him an e-mail." Said Yolei as she moved over to her computer.

***

Davis entered the living room and found Chris, still on the couch and still sleeping, just as they had left him. What had changed was the noise. It was deafening! Was _his_ snoring really this loud? He moved towards him quietly, wait a minute, why was he moving quietly? He was just going to wake him up anyway. Standing up he stepped off the carpet and onto the hard wood floor, which squeaked when he put all of his weight on it. Instantly, it was if the whole house went quiet, even Chris stopped snoring. It was if everything had stopped and was listening to what would move next. Davis stopped and waited, slightly awed at the intense silence that pressed against his ears. After a few moments the normal sounds of the house returned, with a grunt, Chris turned over in his sleep and started to softly snore again. Waiting a couple of seconds to make sure that whatever just happened, wouldn't happen again, Davis moved across the floor quietly, with out anything else happening.

As he reached the couch Chris' snoring was trying to return to its previous volume, not wanting to hear that again he quickly reached over and shook his shoulder. Unfortunately for Davis, he chose that time to blink. Had he kept his eyes open he would have seen Chris launch himself off the couch and tackled Davis to the ground. What Davis did see was Chris on top of him with his knee on his chest and a fist poised ready to strike. But that didn't surprise Davis; though only a short time in the digital world it had expended most of the things on the list that could surprise him, but what did surprise him though was that Chris did this while he was still asleep! 

(A/n: Apparently this one slipped onto the list while no one was looking.) 

Sure enough, Chris' eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly, almost if he were sleepwalking.

"Hey! Whoa! Chris! Wake up!" called Davis, snapping his fingers in his assailant's face.

"Huh? What?" Said Chris as he woke up with a start, "Davis! What are you doing on the floor?"

"You attacked me in your sleep! And you were about to punch my face in before you snapped out of it!" yelled Davis.

"Oh, well, you probably have a good reason to be upset then." He said as he got off Davis.

"What's going on Chris? Why did you do that?" asked Davis.

Chris seemed to ponder this very carefully, "Well, I guess because I grew up with two younger brothers, I need to act first and ask questions later. I just didn't know I was that high strung. It must have been from that news you guys gave me." He explained as he scratched his head. "So when do I get to go to that, what did you call it?" he asked as he changed the subject.

"The Digital World?" Offered Davis as he brushed himself off.

"Right, can we go now?" asked Chris who had by now recovered from his sleepwalking and seemed very excited at the idea.

"Well, at the moment we don't actually know if you actually can travel with us to the digital world." Said Davis.

"Why not? Don't those D3 things open the gate?" he asked.

"Yes but the gate only transported digidestines before, we don't know if a normal human can travel through it. That's why Cody went over to Izzy's house to ask him." Explained Davis.

The blank stare that appeared on Chris' face told Davis he needed to explain a little more. 

"You see; we aren't the first digidestines."

"You mean there's more of you?" asked Chris.

"Yah, in fact there's digidestines all around the world, each of them have a digimon protector. I've actually met a few in the digital world. Izzy is part of the original team of digidestines that traveled to the digital world almost four years ago and defeated the first of the dark masters. Understand?"

Chris nodded his head. Paused, then realized that he didn't have a clue as to what Davis was telling him. He told him so.

Davis sighed, "We'll explain it better when we get to the digital world. Come on! Cody should be getting back by now, we'll leave as soon as he gets here."

***

Meanwhile, Izzy and Cody were finishing up at Izzy's house.

"Well Cody, I've got the data your digivice collected running through my analytical programs on my computer, I should have the results in a couple of hours."

"Great! Now we better get back to Yolei's, I just got a message from her saying that Chris' up. If he's going into the digital world, the others will have their hands full keeping him out of trouble. And we'll need you to watch the gate incase something does go wrong or we need to get out of there in a hurry if the digimon emperor shows up."

"Ok, lets go." Said Izzy as he grabbed his coat as he made his way to the door.

***

After Cody got back with the older Izzy in tow, they found that the rest of the digidestines were crowded around the computer in Yolei's bedroom. When the two new arrivals came in Chris came over and introduced himself to Izzy.

"Hi, you must be Izzy. My name's Chris." Said Chris as he shook Izzy's hand.

"Nice to meet you Chris." Said Izzy, "So, are you ready to go to the digital world?"

"You mean I can?" asked an excited Chris.

"I don't see any problems, but you must keep close to the others. If you get separated you can't get back to this world and you'll be stuck in the digital one." Cautioned Izzy.

"Right, don't worry, I don't want to get lost in any crazy dimension." Laughed Chris. "Can we go now?"

"Yes we can go now." Smiled Kari, "Digiport open!"

And so, the new digidestines disappeared into the digital gate linking the two worlds together, with Chris following right behind them. Izzy watched as they disappeared into the void.

***

The screen that sat in a large meadow glowed slightly before expelling its cargo of inter-dimensional travelers onto the hard ground of the digital world.

"Ouch, sorry Chris. You get used to these landings as you do this a lot more." Apologized Yolei.

"Yah, you get used to them but they don't stop hurting any more." Groaned Davis as he sat up. "Chris?"

Davis and the others soon noticed the usual wonder one got from experiencing the trip to the digital world and the world itself for the first time was oddly absent from their new companion and traveler.

After a quick inspection of the terrain around them, they realized that it wasn't the wonder that was missing. What was missing though was Chris himself. There was no trace of him anywhere. It was if he vanished or never arrived.

"Ok, nobody panic." Said a calm Cody, "He might not have gotten through the gate at all and is still in the real world with Izzy."

Yolei bent down to the monitor and looked through it. "Hey Izzy! Is Chris there? He didn't come through with us."

From beyond the rift the image of the teen looked worried. "No he isn't, as far as I can tell everything when as it was supposed to. He should be there with you. Unless…"

"Unless what? What is it?" asked T.K

"Well, he could have been bounced to another monitor in another sector of the digital world, or…" he trailed off again.

"Come on Izzy, out with it!" said Kari who really wasn't sure that she wanted to hear the rest of the 'or'.

"Or," continued Izzy, "He might not have made it to the other side."

"But if he didn't make it here and he's not there with you, where is he?" puzzled Cody.

"Lost between the dimensions."

Everyone turned to Davis who had spoken. The horrible consequences of that statement were now registering into the thought processes of the others around him. If Chris really was lost between dimensions, then there was nothing they could do to get him back. He would be lost forever, spinning in endless nothing until time itself stopped its procession.

Yolei shook her head and tried to get the image of her newfound friend lost forever out of her mind. "Look, lets not count him as lost just yet. He probably did get bounced to another monitor. He's probably lost and afraid and most likely in some sort of trouble. We better get looking for him."

"Yolei's right." Agreed Kari, who was always choosing to look at the better side of the situation. "Let's go."

And so, the digidestines set of in their quest to find their missing friend all the while calling his name.

***

"Chris!" "Chris!"

The group had been searching for hours. Their throats were almost raw from calling Chris' name but all they got in return was silence. The digital world was a very big place to get lost in; it was impossible to search the entire world in one day but they were determined to do it. 

At the moment they were walking through a dense patch of forest and the digital sun was lowering itself down past the horizon in preparation for the coming night. They walked further into the trees and come across a clearing between the trees and were nestled against a tall imposing cliff.

"Oh, my feet hurt," groaned Cody as he sat down against a tree at the edge of the clearing. "We need to rest a bit."

"Cody's right, we can't keep up this pace." Agreed Kari.

"What? I can't believe you guys! Chris can be seriously hurt and you want to rest?" exclaimed Davis.

"Davis," Yolei said tiredly, "We don't even know if he is in the digital world."

"Still, we have to keep searching and go on the assumption that he is." Countered T.K. "But we can't do this ourselves. Maybe we should ask Shinobimon for help."

"No way!" Yelled Davis. "For all we know he could have caught Chris and is holding him hostage! There's no way I'm gong to trust him to help us."

"Your lack of faith in me hurts, Davis." Came a now familiar voice from the trees above their heads.

"Ah! Stop that!"

"Stop what?" asked Shinobimon calmly who was now perched on one of the lower branches.

"The way you keep disappearing and reappearing like that! It's getting on my nerves." Said a now very annoyed Davis.

"I'm a ninja, it's the way I do things." Shrugged Shinobimon.

"Humph! You call yourself a ninja? You are no ninja." Countered Davis.

Shinobimon's reaction to that last remark was subtle but there. His body tensed, his hands griped the branch he was sitting on tightly, and his eyes went cold as steel.

Kari saw this and didn't like it. "Uh Davis, I don't think you should insult him like this."

"In fact," continued Davis, if he heard Kari's warning he chose to ignore it, "You're just a fake! You have no honor!"

Shinobimon's voice matched his eyes in intensity when he spoke. "I accept your challenge."

"Hun? What?" asked Davis, "What challenge? I didn't offer a challenge."

"You insulted my honor, we will fight so that I may get it back." Said Shinobimon as he jumped down to the ground.

"Oh Yah?" asked a now confident Davis. "You're on." He turned to his digimon, "Ready to teach this guy a lesson Veemon?"

"You bet Davis!"

"Uh Davis, We should be looking for Chris. Not fighting." Reminded Yolei.

"This will only take a minute." Answered Davis. "Digi-armor Energize!"

Veemon armor digivolved to *Flamedramon*

And so, the two combatants faced each other. Each on stood at opposite sides of the clearing, Shinobimon with his back to the cliff and Flamedramon with his back to the towering trees that made up the forest.

"Are you ready to lose Shinobimon?" asked Davis smugly. "Go get him Flamedramon!"

"Fire rocket!" Flamedramon yelled as he launched a volley of scorching fire towards his motionless opponent.

But Shinobimon just stood as still as if he was carved from stone, seemingly oblivious to the missiles that were hurtling towards him. Closer and closer they came but he didn't move, didn't attempt to get out of the way. Everyone stared at the figure as if he had gone mad. 

The fire was only a couple of feet away from impacting on its target when there was a burst of movement from Shinobimon. With a flash of steel his sword was in his hand and moving towards the balls of flying heat, and with three deft strokes he sliced them in half. The new six halves, who were deflected by the force of the strike, sailed past Shinobimon and impacted with the cliff behind him. Which immediately exploded, sending dust and bits of rock raining down on both the combatants and spectators.

As the dist cleared, the form of Shinobimon emerged unscathed. Still standing, he reached into the folds of his tunic and drew out three shards. With a yell, he launched them towards Flamedramon. Seeing the shards hurtling through the air, the digimon brought up his arms and covered his face. The iron missiles arrived and exploded harmlessly against the armor protecting his body.

"It seems that missile attacks are ineffective." Called out Shinobimon after letting the smoke clear.

"So it would seem." Agreed Flamedramon.

"Shall we step it up a notch?" asked Shinobimon dropping into a crouch.

"Lets." Answered Flamedramon who went in to his own crouch.

Shinobimon was the first to attack. He launched himself towards his adversary, sword in hand. Flamedramon blocked the swipe aimed at his head and brought his hand around to deliver a punch to Shinobimon's jaw. The jarring impact knocked the ninja back into a backwards flip; using the momentum, Shinobimon brought his leg up and gave a hard kick to Flamedramon's stomach. The two combatants separated and eyed the other.

"Impressive." Said Shinobimon.

"You're not too bad yourself." Said Flamedramon.

"Hello? You guys are supposed to be fighting, not commenting on each other's moves!" Yelled Davis.

"Would you like to be fighting instead of your digimon?" asked Shinobimon.

"Uh, no."

"Then stay out of it."

With that said, Shinobimon leaped into the sky. With a growl, Flamedramon followed. The combatants met in the free fall, Shinobimon attacking with his sword and Flamedramon countering with his fists. Each giving and receiving attacks, they landed back onto the forest floor. Instantly Shinobimon jumped backwards towards the trees and landed in one of the higher branches. Seeing an opportunity, Flamedramon launched a volley of fire, but it wasn't aimed at Shinobimon, it was directed to the tree he was in. The rockets impacted with the wood and the entire tree shattered sending splinters flying everywhere. Seconds before, Shinobimon saw the attack and jumped clear. As he was tumbling through the air something caught his leg. It was Flamedramon. As Shinobimon jumped, he moved quickly beneath him and caught his leg in between the points of his hand. Bringing the now trapped ninja around before he could respond, Flamedramon slammed him into another tree. Shinobimon cried out and fell to the ground clutching his right shoulder, his sword fell to the ground beside him. Flamedramon jumped back, giving his opponent time to recover so they may continue the battle. 

Shinobimon groaned and razed himself slowly to his feet. He was obviously hurt but was determined to end this battle and reclaim his honor. He looked for his opponent and found him on the opposite side of the clearing in front of the partially destroyed cliff, waiting patiently for him. Shinobimon calmed himself, letting the pain in his shoulder become nothing more than a shadow on his conscious mind. He closed his eyes, gathering his strength and summoning his remaining power to his aid. Sword poised in front of him, he reached into his tunic once more and brought out three more iron shards. 

Letting them fly, the spinning metal headed towards their target, strait and true. As before, Flamedramon razed his hands to shield himself. And as before, the shards exploded harmlessly on the armor. But as the smoke cleared, there was a surprising sight. Flamedramon stood there motionless not moving a mussel, and the glint of steel poised at his throat was a good reason why. Shinobimon's sword was mere millimeters away.

All of the spectators were stunned at what just happened, it was if Shinobimon just appeared in front of Flamedramon. But that wasn't the case. The iron stars were just a diversion, immediately after they were thrown Shinobimon was at their heels. As they exploded against Flamedramon's armor, he entered the smoke and took him by surprise. The others didn't see this because they were following the stars and not watching Shinobimon.

"Do… you… surrender? Panted Shinobimon.

"I guess… I have… no choice." Answered Flamedramon.

"Good." Said Shinobimon as he turned and started to leave. "My honor… is restored."

He only got as far as the first tree before he collapsed against it.

"Shinobimon! You're hurt!" said Kari as she ran up to him but was stopped by Davis' voice.

"Stay away from him Kari! He's dangerous!"

"But he's hurt, we've got to help him." She said as she turned back to the fallen digimon.

But the ninja wasn't there; he had disappeared again. Kari ran up to the spot where she last saw him but there was no trace. The only thing that she did find was a red smudge on the bark of the tree. Touching it with the tips of her fingers she brought the liquid closer to her face for another look. 

___It's blood. But digimon don't bleed, …do they?_

***

Izzy was getting frustrated, he had spent hours looking trying to find which monitor Chris could have been bounced to. All he had to show for it was dead ends and false trails. Finally he gave up on that search and began, with growing concern, to search the space in between the dimensions. That was two hours ago and still he came up with nothing. There was a huge area to search for something as small a person who was floating out there.

"Come on. Where is he?" he asked the monitor in front of him.

He put his head down onto the table while he waited for the computer to finish this newest search. He was tired; sleep was a growing threat. He knew that if he went to sleep, the chances of finding Chris would dwindle to almost nothing. But his body was loosing the fight. His eyes were like lead weights and his thoughts were getting fuzzy. His senses were shutting down one by one in preparation for the sleep that he had fought for so long. His skin felt all tingly, his mouth tasted dry, and his ears were beeping.

Wait a minute, beeping?

Izzy razed his head and looked at the screen. The computer had dutifully finished its search and was waiting for its next instruction.

___Great, it probably found another dead-end_. He thought bitterly as he went through the data.

One piece though, caught the attention of his semi-conscious brain. It was a video link to a particular point of the void. Izzy opened the file and ran it through the descriptor; a swirling mass of golden clouds that made up the space between the dimensions met his eyes. He looked, but couldn't see anything that would tell him why the computer had picked this particular spot to show him. The swirling clouds continued their dance across the screen not wanting to give up the secrets they held. Frustrated, Izzy wiped the screen to get rid of the smudge that had now seemed to take up residence there. And got even more frustrated because it refused to budge. He moved closer to see what it was. And was quite surprised when it moved.

Startled, Izzy realized that that wasn't something on the screen; it was something the camera was picking up. Quickly he selected the area of the image and enlarged it. Immediately he let out a whoop of joy. It was Chris! He was waving his hands in an almost panicked way, trying to get the attention of anyone who could help him.

Izzy quickly sent a message to the others, telling them to get back here as quickly as possible.

***

Kari was puzzled, what could the blood mean? Could have it come from Shinobimon? Or was it there before? How could Shinobimon bleed if he's a digimon? But if he's not a digimon, then…

"Kari! We just got a message from Izzy, he found Chris! He's lost in the void between the dimensions. We need to get back there so we can find a way to get him out." Called Yolei happily.

"All right! Lets go!" said Kari as she ran towards the nearest monitor, deciding to worry about the blood after they got Chris back.

***

They came out of the computer in front of Izzy into a pile on the floor. Quickly getting up from the pile of digidestines, the first thing out of Yolei's mouth was: "Where is he?"

"He's in the void. I almost didn't see him at all. He turned up as just a small speck in the distance that the last search I did. You can see him on the screen over there." Explained Izzy as he pointed to the screen that just brought them back from the digital world.

"Uh, Izzy." Said Cody as he looked at the monitor.

"Yes Cody?"

"How big did Chris look when you found him?"

"Very small, I thought he was a speck of dust on the monitor until he moved."

"And was he moving?"

"Uh, no. He was just spinning a little."

"Well, he's moving now. Right at us!" Cody yelled as he quickly moved away from the glowing screen.

"What?" asked Izzy as he ran towards the computer. What he saw was a spinning form that was quickly solidifying into the image of Chris heading right towards the still open gate. "Uh oh. I think we better get out of the way."

Everyone moved away and the screen started to glow brighter. With a yelp of surprise, Chris was thrown from the computer. It was with such force that he flew across the room and hit the wall with a thud.

"Chris! Are you all right?" asked Davis.

"Yah fine." He said as he picked himself of the floor. "Wow, what a ride."

Even though to the contrary of what he assured them, they looked him over to see if he was hurt at all by his trip. They couldn't find anything wrong he was in perfect health. The only thing left was to find out what happened.

"Well," Chris began, "when we went through the gate I was behind you guys. It was an amazing ride, up until the point where I stopped. It was if I hit an invisible wall, and I watched as you guys went on without me. I tried to get your attention until you disappeared. Then that's when I started floating away from the gates. I was like that for hours, I kept on yelling and waving my arms incase you guys were looking for me. Then when I was getting the Idea that I was going to be stuck out there forever, I saw you guys coming back through the portal. I waved and called but I was too far away for you guys to hear or see me. Then you disappeared. I was just about to give up when I realized that I was moving, not further away from the portal but towards it and I was going faster. When I got to it, it sucked me in and tossed me against the wall of your room, Yolei."

"Wow, I guess humans can't go through the portal. Sorry, it must have been horrible." Apologized Izzy.

"What? Are you kidding? That was amazing! If not for the fact that I could have been lost forever, it would make a wild ride!" Exclaimed Chris.

Just then, a bleep sounded from Izzy's pager.

"Oh, it's my computer." He said as he checked it. "I set it to contact me when it was finished with the data analysis of the new digivice."

"Wait, hold on a minute." Interrupted T.K, "what digivice?"

"On my way to see Izzy, I found a signal coming from another digivice but it was too faint to get a direction. So when I got to Izzy's, he started his computer analyzing it so we can tell where it come from." Explained Cody.

"You mean there's another digidestined here?" Asked Chris.

"It looks that way." Nodded Izzy. "I should go over there and check the data. See you guys tomorrow."

"I'll come with you Izzy," said Cody, "I want to know where that signal came from."

"All right, come on."

As the two left the apartment, Chris turned to the others.

"It's getting late, I better get home. See you guys!" he said as he turned and left.

"He's right, we all should get home." Agreed Kari. "Bye Yolei"

After saying their goodbyes, the digidestines each went off to their houses. Turning towards her room, Yolei found herself alone with her thoughts.

Too bad Chris couldn't come to the digital world; I would have liked to show him around. But I wouldn't want to risk that he would get lost in the void again. Maybe I could help Izzy find a way to do it. I should think it's possible. It's not like it's going to cause the end of the digital world if one human enters it…

"Oh, what's this?"

Noticing something on the floor that wasn't hers had shaken her out of her reverie. She bent down to grab it. She turned it over in her hands.

"It's a wallet. Let's see who it belongs to."She said as she opened it up.

Inside were some bills and a couple of coins. Looking around, Yolei found a worn picture that was starting to fade. The picture on it was of a young boy who was standing in front of a roller coaster waving at the camera and smiling happily. The caption underneath was in English, fortunately for Yolei, she was taking the language in school.

"Canada… Day… Celeb…Celebration, Alb… Alberta, Canada." She read out loud with a little difficulty. "This must belong to Chris. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he hit the wall. I hope he's not too far away so I can't catch him."

She grabbed her coat and ran out the door in search for Chris.

***

Yolei hurried through the streets looking for a sign that her quarry had passed that way. She had almost given up and was checking the last street around her house. It was the street leading up to the school. Walking towards it, Yolei scanned the shadows looking for movement. She passed the school and was about to turn back when an odd noise caught her attention. It was like rusted metal scraping against concrete. Yolei spun around in time to see Chris entering the school grounds through the old gate.

_Why would Chris be going into the school at this hour?_ Yolei asked herself.

Her curiosity aroused, she followed the boy quietly into the school. Through the empty halls an up the deserted staircases Chris led Yolei up to the third floor. That's where she lost him. When she reached the top of the stairs she couldn't see him anywhere. She started to check each classroom one by one. She got to the fourth room when a white light bathed the floor, spilling out of the computer room. Hurrying to the door, Yolei found nothing, just an empty room just like the others and no Chris. But there was something unlike the other rooms; the gate to the digital world was open on one of the screens. She peered into the gate in hopes of seeing whatever went through but saw nothing.

***

For the final truth about Shinobimon and Chris watch for the third and final chapter in the trilogy - Revelations. 


	3. Revelations

Revelations

By Jack

The next day, Cody was once again at Izzy's house.

"Ok, let's see what the computer can tell us about that Digivice you picked up," said Izzy as he sat down in front of the screen. 

With a couple of taps on the keyboard, Izzy brought up the data, filling the screen with all sorts of charts and diagrams that Cody had a hard time following. As he was trying to make sense of what he was seeing he glanced over at his friend. Izzy was at the moment studying a graph that he had pulled up from the landslide of information that was moving around in front of them. What ever it was had caused the computer genius to frown in concentration

"Izzy, what is it?"

"It's a graph showing the signal line of the Digivice you found."

"Ok, that explains that line, but what about the other two?" he asked as he pointed to the lines that were crossing each other every couple of spaces.

"That's what I can't figure out. The computer doesn't know either. It says that they're different but they share the same wavelength. It's almost as if…" He trailed off as his hands flew over the keyboard. 

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think anything is wrong, but if I'm right this is going to be amazing!" he said as he plugged in his own Digivice into the slot in his computer. After a couple of commands he pulled up three different graphs in front of the first, each with a single line flowing through it.

"You see Cody, each of these graphs represents the signals that our Digivices, Digimon and we give off," he said as he pointed to each in turn. 

"We give off signals?"

"Yes. The human brain and body use electricity to send thoughts and information throughout us to our muscles, organs and such. These electrical impulses give off a small electromagnetic signal. Although normally they're usually too low of a frequency to show up on any scans. Because of our travels to and from the Digital World the signals of the Digidestines have been naturally heightened to the point that they'll just barely register on a deep scan."

"But that's not the reason that you're excited," Cody stated knowingly.

"Not entirely, that's only part of it," said Izzy as he tapped a couple of keys. "This is what's so amazing."

As Izzy spoke the three separate graphs started to move towards each other. They slid together, merging to form a single graph. This new graph continued towards the one representing the signal Cody found. Slowing down as it maneuvered itself over the other, the graph superimposed itself over the stationary graph. 

"They… match," said a stunned Cody. 

"Yes they do. This shows that each of these signals is connected into each other. Which means that…"

"Which means that," interrupted Cody, "the Digimon, the Digivice, and the Digidestined… are one entity."

"Precisely," said Izzy as he turned back to the graph. "The question is, what is he, or she, doing here and how are we going to able to find the person and ask them? Does he even know that he's part Digimon or even a Digidestined?" He stared at the screen in deep thought. 

"Well, we could go around the city and try to pick up the signal again," suggested Cody.

"No, I don't think that would work. The city's too big to do it and besides, we don't even know if he or she is still around. You did say that the signal was too weak to get a direction off of…" The computer genius trailed off again as he once again turned to the flow of data that was being paraded across the screen.

"What is it now?" 

"We've been thinking that the source of the signals was too far away from you to get a good direction from, right?"

"Yes. So?"

"But what if we were wrong?" Izzy said as he brought up the graph that showed the mysterious signals to the foreground once again. "Look at this." He said, pointing to the amplitude reading of the lines.

"It's lower than the originals."

"Right. It seems that the merging between the three has bonded them together. While the entire entity is strong, the individual parts were weakened, so the signal output of each would naturally be lowered."

"So," reasoned Cody, "the signal that I picked up wasn't too far away to get a direction, it was too weak."

"Right, and that means the signal needed to be very close for you to pick it up. Was there anything strange or anyone around you when you found the signal?"

"No, I was in Yolei's house. There wasn't anything weird and there was no one around except…" Now it was Cody's turn to trail off into silence.

"Except what? Who was in the room?" asked Izzy.

"Chris. Chris was sleeping on the couch in the living room. He was the only one there," he said, his eyes widening.

"Where is he now?" asked Izzy.

"I left him with Kari and T.K. They were going to show him around the city." 

"We have to tell them about Chris. He might be dangerous." 

"I'll send her an e-mail, then we should go find them," said Cody as he pushed himself towards the computer.

***

"So Chris, What do you think of Odaiba?" asked Kari as they walked down the main street, buffeted by a mass of people who flooded the sidewalk while trying to get to all sorts of shops and restaurants that lined both sides. 

"Well, it's a lot more crowded than Canada" he returned as he dodged a large group of children entering a toy store. 

"What's it like in Canada? Where over there do you live?" asked T.K. 

"I'm from the central part of the country and it's very nice. If you get far enough away from the city you can see for miles in all directions. There's nothing but fields all around you. It's especially beautiful in late summer when all the plants turn a wonderful gold," he said with misty eyes. 

"Wow, I wish I could see it. It sounds lovely," said Kari as she tried to imagine the landscape. 

"Yeah, maybe we will someday. And when we do, we'll have a great guide to show us around," said T.K as he patted Chris' shoulder. 

"Thanks T.K, it would be fun to show you around my home town," said Chris as he bowed his head at the complement. Looking up, something caught his eye. "Hey! Are those chocolate covered rice balls? I love those things!"

The two Digidestined watched as their friend made his way over to one of the many vendor stands that lined the street and immediately got into a fight over the price of the snacks with the owner. The argument quickly grew into a shouting match between them. 

After a couple of minutes Kari was distracted from the spectacle by a beep from her D-terminal. 

"Hey T.K," she called to her companion. "We're getting an e-mail."

"What does it say?" he asked as he joined her.

"It's from Cody," she said as she scanned the message. "It says: 'Stay away from Chris, he isn't what he seems. Where are you?'"

"'He isn't what he seems?' What does he mean?" asked T.K as he looked at the message.

"I don't know but Cody's usually right about this kind of thing. So I think we should follow his advice."

"Hey guys! What are you looking at?"

They both jumped. Turning, they saw Chris in front of them with a chocolate covered rice ball in each hand. Obviously he had won the argument between him and the vendor and settled on a good price for the snacks.

"Oh, nothing. It was just an e-mail from Cody," explained T.K with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

Chris shrugged. "Ok, you guys want to go the park? It looks like there's a theater performance going on there."

"Uh, you go on ahead Chris. We need to wait for someone," said Kari.

"Alright but you'll miss the show." He said as he walked off towards the park. taking a bite of his snacks.

After he had left, Kari turned back to her D-terminal. "We'd better tell Cody where we are so he can explain what's going on," she said as he typed her response.

***

"Izzy! It's a message from Kari," called Cody. "She says that they're downtown and that Chris has just left to go see a play in the park."

"Good, that should keep him busy until we can get to them and explain what we found. Let's go!" he said as he grabbed his coat off the peg and ran out the door, with Cody on his heels.

***

While all this was happening, Yolei was enjoying the day by doing a little shopping downtown. As she was wandering from store to store, she spotted T.K and Kari farther down the street. Shouldering her already full bags, she made her way towards her friends as best she could through the crowds. 

When she arrived there she could see something was wrong. Their faces were creased with worry and their mouths were sporting puzzled frowns. 

"What's the matter you guys?" she asked.

Her voice obviously startled the two because they both jumped when they heard her. Turning, they relaxed when they recognized their friend.

"Oh, hi Yolei," said Kari as she tried to put on a smile, but she was obviously having a hard time keeping it there.

"We were just trying to figure out a message that Cody sent us. It's about Chris and it's got us confused," explained T.K. 

"What did it say?" asked Yolei as she dropped her bags and sat down next to the two.

"It said 'Chris is not what he seems'," Kari replied with a shrug. "Then they said they'd be right here, so we're waiting for them." 

"Chris is not what he seems? What does that mean?"

"We don't know. We're just as stumped as you are," answered T.K. 

"Ok, but where's Chris now?"

"He went down to the park to watch a play," said T.K.

"Do you really think Chris could be dangerous?" asked Yolei.

"That's what we need to ask him," came a voice from behind them. 

They all turned towards the source and found a very out of breath Izzy and Cody. Without going into any more explanation they sat down on the benches. After a couple of minutes they had caught enough of their breath to go on

"We found the source of the Digivice signal that Cody detected the other day," began Izzy.

"It turns out that the source was Chris," continued Cody.

"What? You mean that Chris is a Digidestined?" exclaimed T.K

"Wait, it gets better," interrupted Izzy. "It turns out that Chris is not only a Digidestined but a Digimon too." 

"Whoa, slow down Izzy. I thought that only humans could be Digidestined. Not Digimon," said Yolei.

"You're right. But Chris is a Digidestined human and a Digimon. Somehow they've merged with a D-3 and now they're a single entity," said Izzy. 

Everyone just stared at the genius in disbelief.

"That's not possible, is it?" asked Kari.

"But it makes sense," mused Yolei, "It would explain what happened last night at the school."

Everyone turned towards Yolei with confused expressions.

"What happened at the school Yolei?" asked Cody.

"Oh, that's right! I didn't tell you," said Yolei as she smacked her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Last night after he left I found Chris' wallet on my bedroom floor. It must have fallen out when he hit the wall. So I went after him to try to give it back. I found him outside of the school but before I could call him he slipped in through the front gate. So I followed him into the computer lab, then he disappeared. He must have gone through the gate to the Digital World."

"Hmmm," said Izzy as he rubbed his chin in thought. "That would mean that he at least knows that he is a Digidestined. I don't know if that is a good thing or not though."

"What do you mean Izzy?" asked Cody.

"It's simple really," interrupted T.K. "Since he knows he's a Digidestined and he didn't tell us about it, there's a possibility that he may have been turned by the Emperor to the side of darkness. He could be spying on us for him."

"But let's not jump to conclusions here. I'm not ready to condemn him just yet. After all, he did save my life," Yolei reminded everyone.

"Well, there's only one way to find out for sure," said Kari "We have to find him and ask him."

"Right, the play should be just about over. It should be easy to find him," said T.K. as he started to walk to the park with the others following quickly behind him. 

***

T.K was right, the play had ended by the time the group got to the park and most of the spectators had already left to find another source of entertainment. It only took a couple of minutes of looking to find whom they were there for. Chris was sitting beneath a large green tree, eating the last of the chocolate covered rice balls and relaxing under its cool shade. 

"Look, there he is," said Kari as she pointed towards the tree.

"Alright you guys, lets keep this under control. Since he probably doesn't know that we know what he really is, don't show our hand as soon as we get there. Maybe we can talk this out calmly," said Izzy.

The others nodded and continued to the tree. When they got there, Chris finally spotted them. Getting up off the ground and dusting himself off, he moved over to them. 

"Hi guys! Man you missed a good play," he said as he grinned.

"Hi Chris. We were just talking…" That was as far as T.K got before Yolei interrupted him.

"All right Chris. We know what you really are. Now you better tell us what you're doing here or else!" she shouted.

As soon as he heard this, the grin that was on his face was replaced with a quick succession of emotions. The first was confusion, after that was surprise. Then a flash of anger rolled across his features. The anger was quickly suppressed and finally something like disappointment remained. 

He sighed. "Alright. I think you should know the truth but I'd better let my friend behind you explain it for me," he said as he pointed to the rear of the group. 

Everyone turned in the direction that he was indicating, hopeful of solving this mystery once and for all. Only there was no one there but a lone squirrel looking for some nuts it had buried last year and most likely wouldn't be much help to them anyway. They turned back, questions already forming on their lips. But Chris was already half way down the block and moving fast. 

"Nice going Yolei," sighed Cody as they started to run after the fleeing boy.

***

Davis was having a good day. The sun was out, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and his pockets jingled with the sound of coins as he made his way to the arcade. As he walked down the street he started to whistle an aimless tune that he had made up on the spot. Arriving at the corner before the arcade, he was surprised to see Chris running at top speed towards him. 

"Hey Chris!" he called, but it seemed his friend didn't hear him. He was busy concentrating on running and occasionally glancing behind him. He was still hurrying towards Davis, so the auburn-haired boy decided to try again. "Chris! Stop!" he yelled at the top of lungs. No luck. Chris was almost on top of him when Davis decided that the only way to stop him would be to resort to drastic measures. So he did the only thing that came to him; he stuck out his foot. 

This action got the desired result though. As soon as Chris hit the outstretched leg he pitched forward with a yelp of surprise. He hit the ground with a thud and a muffled 'ooof'. But to Davis' surprise, he almost immediately got up and began running again but was stopped by a hand from behind. He whirled around, fists raised and legs spread as if expecting to have to fight his way out of whatever stopped him. 

"Whoa Chris! Calm down, it's just me!" Said Davis as he tried to pacify the teen in front of him. "What's going on? What are you running from? Are you in trouble? What…?"

"Look Davis, I can't talk now," he interrupted, lowering his fists. "But you can do me a favor though."

"Yeah? What is it?" Davis asked, slightly confused. 

"I need you to stand here, Ok?" Chris said as he positioned him in the center of the sidewalk, just around the corner. 

"Uh sure but why?" Davis asked, but he was only met be the sight of Chris already sprinting down the street. 

Davis was still scratching his head trying to figure out what just happened when he was hit from behind by a something moving really fast. Actually it was a couple of somethings and he soon found himself on the bottom of a pile of those somethings even more confused and even a little sore. He grunted and tried to shove them off when a familiar voice caught his attention. 

"Davis? What are you doing here?" asked Yolei from the top of the pile.

"Being crushed, that's what!" he snapped back as the rest of the group quickly got off him.

As he got up off the ground he found the other something's that were with Yolei were his friends. Brushing himself off, Izzy turned quickly to him and asked, "Davis, did Chris just come by here?"

"Yeah, just before you guys ran into me. What's going on? Are you chasing him?"

"There's no time to explain, just come on!" yelled Yolei as she ran down the street in the direction that Chris had just taken. 

"Why can't anyone tell me what's going on?" he asked to no one in particular as he started after his friends.

***

After a couple of minutes of running through the crowded streets, they managed to close the gap between the fleeing Chris so they could just barely see him. He was dodging between groups of people trying to get away at an almost fevered pace. It was really hard even keeping him in view as they fought their way through those same but now startled people. 

As they raced around a corner they found the street deserted. No one was there, not even Chris.

"Oh great! Now we lost him," sighed Kari.

"Would someone tell me what's going on?" complained Davis.

"No time. Come on! I think I know where he's going!" said Yolei as she dashed down a side street.

***

"The school? Why would he go here?" Davis asked as they rounded the corner that brought the structure into view.

"Davis, there's no time…" started Yolei.

"…To explain. I know, I know," he finished. "But when this is all over, you guys owe me a good one."

They followed Yolei into the building and up the three flights of stairs to the top floor of the tower that housed the now familiar computer lab. Hurrying to the door that would let them into the room, Yolei almost smacked herself against the wood.

"It's locked," she pointed out as she rubbed her nose.

Peering into the window, they could see Chris standing in front of one of the monitors. The faint sound of a computer finishing starting up filled the room and could be heard even through the door. As the screen brought up the usual background of the school, he put his hand to the screen and closed his eyes as if to gather his concentration.

"What's he doing?" asked T.K

Right as he said that, the usual image of the gate that linked this world to the digital one appeared on the monitor. "He's opening the portal to the digital world!" exclaimed Izzy.

"What! How is that possible?" Yelled Davis, who was by now thoroughly bewildered. 

"We've got to stop him!" cried Yolei as she pulled on the door, trying to force it open. "Come on! Help me!" she pleaded to the others, who quickly came to her aid. But despite all of their efforts, the door wouldn't budge. They all watched helplessly as the gate clicked from closed to open. The monitor cast a glow throughout the room and started to pull Chris in. His form was almost touching the screen when everything went totally black.

The glow died away and computer shut down, closing the gate as it went. Chris' eyes shot open in astonishment and looked around in confusion, trying to find what had caused his escape to fail. The Digidestines on the other side of the door were equally surprised by this sudden turn of events looked around to find the cause of this miracle. The source quickly let itself be known as the group turned towards the sound of someone clearing her throat.

"Kari?" said T.K in astonishment.

And it was Kari. She was standing beside the now open circuit breaker panel that controlled the entire distribution of power to the floor, with her finger on the master switch that cuts off all current.

She shrugged. "I want to find out what's going on too you know."

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about Chris getting out of here anymore, this door is the only way out and we're three stories up so he can't jump," said Izzy.

"I guess he has no other choice than to come out. But what's taking so long? What's he doing?" asked Yolei.

Cody looked back into the room and his eyes went wide. "He's jumping!"

"What!" Came the astonished shout from the group as they rushed to the door. There, on the other end of the room was Chris. He had the window open and already had one of his legs over the sill. They watched is stunned silence as he moved the other leg up and sat, teetering on the edge. He paused in his escape to take a quick glance towards the ground, which didn't last long as he just as quickly snapped his eyes closed and tightened his grip on the window frame.

He seemed to take a couple of seconds to ponder his situation and another couple to take a second glance below him. He seemed to come to a decision when his shoulders slumped in defeat. He swung his legs back into the room and jumped off the windowsill onto the solid floor of the room. He turned towards the door and sighed as he saw the six very relieved faces of the Digidestined peering back at him through the glass. Walking over to the door, he reached up and undid the lock. Almost immediately the door slid open and spilled the kids onto the floor at his feet.

He looked down at the pile of arms and feet. "Well, you got me," he said simply. "You probably want an explanation, hmmmm?

"You bet we do," said Davis as he got up from underneath the pile. "At least someone is willing to tell me what's going on."

Izzy was the second to get up and ignored the barb and the hard look that accompanied it from Davis. He turned to Chris as he brushed himself off. "Shinobimon I presume?" he asked.

"At your service," came Chris' reply as he gave a small sweeping bow and a grin.

"What?" came the startled cry from the others who were still trying to get up off the floor. Davis just started at the two in stunned silence, his mouth moving up and down but no words came from his lips.

"But if I may ask," returned Chris, ignoring the cries of disbelief. "How did you find out?"

"It was simple really," began Izzy. "Cody picked up your Digivice signal when you were sleeping but we didn't know what it was until I finished a deep analysis. After we found the three intertwined signals, I realized what you are."

"But what is he?" asked Yolei as she got over her shock.

"He is the combination of a Digivice, human, and Digimon. A sort of hybrid between the three," said Izzy to the once again stunned others.

"Is that what we are?" asked Chris as he grinned wildly.

Izzy razed an eyebrow. "You mean you're not?"

"Whoa, hold on a sec," interrupted T.K. as he held up his hands. "You said 'We'."

He nodded. "That's right. We're not a hybrid. I am human and Shinobimon is a Digimon, just like you and your Digimon," he paused as if to find the best way of explaining it, "but we're just connected to the same space I guess."

By this time the shocked expression on Davis' face had disappeared and was immediately replaced by a confused one. "What?" he managed to say.

Chris sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, even I don't fully understand it myself and I've been living with it for a while now. All I know is that I and Shinobimon are, well, bonded or attached somehow and that my Digivice is the only thing keeping us from merging completely."

"So let me get this straight," said Yolei. "You are a human with a Digimon attached to you?"

Davis still looked confused. "But why can't we see Shinobimon now? And why couldn't we see you when we saw Shinobimon?"

"Well, I think that's because the person, human or Digimon, that is present depends on which dimension we're in." Chris paused a second to lower himself into a nearby chair before he continued. "If we're in the Digital World then the Digimon, Shinobimon, is the one that's there. For the real world, I'm the one in control. I think it's something like how you guys change outfits when you travel back and forth through the gate."

"Ok, that makes a little more sense," said Izzy as he paced the floor in front of the group. "But even though you don't have a D-3 in the physical sense you still seem to be able to control enough to open a gate to the Digital World."

Chris nodded, "When Shinobimon and I fused, my Digivice somehow changed and formed a barrier between us. But the power needed to keep the barrier up is extreme, it needs most of its power and a lot of ours, so opening a gate is the one of the few things my Digivice can spare energy for."

"But how do you know all this?" asked Yolei, who by now was very interested in finding out how all of this worked.

"Simple," Chris shrugged. "My Digivice told me."

The group of Digidestines just looked at him and for the first time began to doubt his sanity and the truth of the entire thing.

"Your Digivice told you?" asked Kari slowly.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Chris' mouth. "I know it seems weird but yes, my Digivice doesn't just separate our bodies, it separates our minds too. And it somehow managed to link Shinobimon's thoughts, and mine. We both can talk to it but it's a really limited conversation. Binary is a hard language to understand."

It seemed that the confusion still had Davis in its grasp. "So you can talk to Shinobimon with your mind?" he asked, and Chris gave a nod. "So what does he think of telling us all this?"

"To be honest, he doesn't like it. But he knows that we had to tell you guys sometime."

"So when where you going to tell us?" asked Yolei angrily.

"Hey, I wasn't planning on telling you at all for a long time and it would have stayed that way unless you hadn't decided to step in front of a moving truck," Chris countered defensively.

"Oh yeah? I could have gotten out of the way myself."

"Yeah right, you were scared stiff."

"I was not, I was just taking my time because I knew that I could get out of the way."

"You were screaming."

"It was a battle cry."

"That's the most high pitched battle cry I've ever heard."

"Well, you snore."

This seemed to surprise Chris. "I snore?" he asked.

"Yes, louder than Davis in fact," Yolei said smugly.

T.K had just about enough of this argument. "Alright you guys stop fighting," he said as he positioned himself in front of Yolei.

"Yeah, we're all friends here right?" agreed Kari as she moved in front of a confused Chris.

"I didn't know I snored," he said.

Yolei was just about to say something else when she was interrupted by squeals coming from all the Digivices in the room. Grabbing his, Izzy looked at the tiny screen that was flashing with an angry red. "It's a distress signal," he said as he moved to one of the computers. "Quick, someone turn the power back on."

Kari ran back out into the hall and flipped the power breaker giving the computer lab back the power for the computers.

"Where's it coming from?" asked Cody.

Izzy bent over the screen and watched as the computer displayed a map of the Digital World with a blinking red 'X' over a barren patch of desert lined with a large range of mountains to the west. "Here," he said as he pointed to the location on the map. "I'll try to get a connection to the monitor in that area."

After tense seconds of key tapping, the screen flared to life with a brief burst of static, which quickly cleared to reveal the image of a very distressed Tentomon.

"Izzy! I'm so glad you're here," exclaimed the Digimon.

"What's the problem Tentomon?" asked the boy genius, skipping the reunion and getting straight to business. 

If the Digimon was surprised by the forwardness of the question, he didn't show it. "The Digimon Emperor just attacked a village at the edge of the desert. It was so quick no one saw it coming. The dark rings possessed most of the Digimon in the first few seconds. But fortunately it seems that the Emperor ran out of his supply of dark rings because he captured the rest of the townspeople in his base. Then he just left into the desert following the mountains. The town's a mess Izzy, there are still fires burning." 

The faces of everyone present were grim with the weight of the news as Izzy spoke into the connection. "We'll be right there Tentomon." And he cut the link.

Izzy turned to the others in the room. "We'll finish this later, right now we have a rescue on our hands."

Davis snapped out of his confusion Finally something that he could handle. "All right! Let's go!" he shouted as he took out his Digivice and pointed it at the gate. "Digiport Open!" 

Seconds later, the computer lab on the third floor of Odaiba Elementary was empty.

***

The sight that greeted the Digidestined as they were flung through the portal onto the charred ground was one of total destruction. Splinters of wood, the last remnants of houses, littered the area. Huge craters dotted the landscape with and the sky was turned to the dark of night by the thick smoke from countless fires that cast a haunting flicker over the carnage

They all stood in stunned horror, their minds trying to process the information their eyes were sending them.

"Oh my god," breathed Yolei as the light of the fires reflected off her glasses. 

"The Digimon Emperor has gone too far," whispered T.K. 

"I'd have to agree with you there, T.K.," said Tentomon as he flew into view from around a crumbling section of wall. "This is all that's left of a town of about two hundred Digimon, just a pile of smoldering ruins. It's horrible." The little Digimon sighed and turned back to the group before noticing a new face. "Uh, who's your friend?" he asked. 

Startled by the question, the Digidestined turned around to be startled even more when they found Shinobimon standing there instead of Chris.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that," said Davis.

Izzy nodded towards the cloaked figure. "Uh, Tentomon this is Shinobimon, and Chris. I'll explain later," he added in response to the confused expression that the Digimon wore. "Now which way did the Emperor go?"

"He went north, following the mountains. And I think I know where he's going," said Tentomon. "Can you get a map of the area?"

Izzy nodded and brought up the map on the screen of his laptop. It showed the same desert and mountain ranges that they saw earlier but this map extended further. The desert continued east along the range and disappeared out of view. To the west, a large, lush forest sprang up that ran the edges of the mountains until it thinned into the ripples of small foothills to the north.

"There's another small village at the edge of that forest. That's probably where he's going," said Tentomon as he pointed to the location.

Shinobimon peered over Izzy's shoulder as he studied the map. "Hmmm, He'll have to go around the mountains to reach it, his base can't fly over them," he said in a low voice.

"The only way he could do that would be to go through this pass through the mountains farther up," said Tentomon.

Izzy studied the map and ran some calculations before speaking. "All right, if he is going for the village he'll get there in less than an hour with his head start. We have to beat him there. That means that we'll need to fly over the mountains to do it."

At that comment Shinobimon tensed slightly but recovered quickly, but not soon enough to stop Yolei from noticing. 

"What's wrong Shinobimon?" she asked.

"It's nothing," he said in a tone that meant the questions should stop, then turned away and headed towards the others who were already getting ready for the flight. 

Yolei shrugged. "All right," she said, and then turned to Hawkmon. "Ready to save some Digimon?" she asked.

"I was hatched ready," said the bird beside her as they took off after the others. 

***

Five minutes later the team of heroes was in the air and screaming towards the mountain pass at top speed, much to the obvious discomfort of Shinobimon. The ninja had a tight grip on the back armor of Pegasusmon and had his eyes shut tight. This change in behavior wasn't missed by T.K, who turned to look at the Digimon riding behind him.

"What's the matter Shinobimon?" he asked.

"It is nothing," dismissed the Digimon.

"Well there's obviously something the matter," persisted T.K.

It was apparent that the questions were causing Shinobimon even more discomfort than whatever was doing it in the first place. Luckily, Yolei saw this and wisely decided to change the subject.

"So, Shinobimon. How exactly did you and Chris become partners?" she asked.

"It is a rather complicated story that would need some time to explain," he said. He seemed to relax now that his concentration was diverted. "The short version of it involves a thunderstorm, a bowl of chocolate ice-cream, a roller-skate, and a Digiport." 

He left a couple of seconds of silence for the others to make their own conclusions before continuing. "It was almost two years ago when it happened, just after the Digimon Emperor came to the Digital World. As far as we can tell, we were chosen to stop him before he became too powerful but it was too little too late. We tried but obviously we weren't able to stop him, his power grew too quickly. The only thing we could do was to cause enough trouble to try and slow him down; quick attacks on bases and supply lines. And we waited for someone else to come and help. Then you came."

"But why didn't you tell us right away, instead of avoiding us?" asked Cody as he held on to Pegasusmon's back.

"And tell you what?" asked Shinobimon. " 'Hello we are a Digimon and a human fused together and were here to help you defeat the Digimon emperor.' You would have tried to attack us on the spot." 

"You have to admit, that does seem a little strange," said Kari.

"So what we saw for the last two days was an act?" demanded Yolei. "The fainting, getting trapped between the dimensions, Chris being from Canada? Everything?"

"No," said Shinobimon. "Chris really is from Canada."

"Oh yeah? Then how did he get to Japan?" asked Izzy.

Shinobimon sighed. "One of the few abilities that we have been able to get our Digivice to do is to open a digiport to a different location. Which means we can open one in Canada move to another in the Digital World and come out at another location, in this case in Japan. That's also how we got 'lost' in between dimensions; we managed to stop the portal mid transfer. We planned to stay there until you gave up on us but we decided it wouldn't be honorable for us to put you through that sort of guilt of losing Chris. So we just decided to disappear, that is until you caught Chris while he was leaving."

"And the fainting?" prompted Yolei.

"That was real too."

"But if you already knew about the Digital World, why did he faint?" asked Kari.

"To be honest, we didn't expect you to come out and tell Chris about the Digital World. We thought you might've told him he was dreaming or tried to knock him out or something. The surprise, along with the fact that it was the middle of the night in Canada knocked him out," explained the ninja.

Davis, who had been quiet for the entire time, finally spoke up. "Shinobimon, What level are you?"

"I'm a rookie, technically"

"What?" exclaimed V-mon. "You mean to tell me that I was beaten, in my champion form, by a rookie?"

"I said I'm technically a rookie," countered Shinobimon.

"How the heck can you be technically a rookie?" demanded Davis.

"I mean my form is a rookie; my power, because I have two life forces inside me, can become equal to a champion. But it does have some dangers."

"The blood," said Kari.

"Yes," said Shinobimon as he nodded. "As you know, most of our energy is sacrificed to maintaining the separation between Chris and I. But we can temporarily channel it and use it to fight. But because of immense drain of stopping the portal and running all over the place, our power got to the point where it was so low that parts of us started to merge and flicker. Though the fight stopped in time, Chris' shoulder was hit. But luckily my Digimon healing was able to repair the damage."

Davis sighed heavily. "This is one strange day," he muttered.

"And it's going to get even stranger," said Izzy. "Look."

Below them was the valley that split the mountain range in two. And pushing it's way though the trees that lined its bottom was the ominous form of the Digimon Emperor's base.

"We don't have much time, he's already half way through the pass," said T.K as the group spiraled down towards the floating menace.

***

Once the Digimon were in range they wasted no time in starting to pummel the floating base with whatever they had. Bolts of energy crashed into the rock but the lumbering structure just shrugged it off and kept on moving.

"It's not working! We're not even scratching the surface!" called T.K as he and Pegasusmon flew around for another pass.

"He's right! We need to think of something else!" agreed Izzy.

"Well whatever is we do we'd better do it fast! Look!" yelled Yolei as she pointed to two large doors that had opened on the front of the base that started to spew out the mindless Digimon under the control of the Emperor.

"Quick! Back to the mountains!" shouted Kari as she and Nefertimon turned away from the quickly growing horde of zombie soldiers.

***

Izzy sighed as he slumped down to the ground and brought out his laptop. "This is going to be harder than we thought," he said as he brought up an image of the base on the screen.

"It's heavily armored," sighed T.K, "what ever we throw at it doesn't even get passed the rock let alone the metal inside."

Izzy turned to their newest companion. "Shinobimon, do you know anything that could help us?" he asked.

The ninja shook his head. "I am afraid that I can not tell you anything of importance for I have never been inside, except that the bridge is here and the main hangar is there." He said as he pointed first to the top of the base and then at the lower front.

"You know," interrupted Davis as he studied the image, "I don't see any windows on that thing. I wonder how he sees where he's going?"

Izzy just shrugged. "Probably some sort of video link to cameras on the outside…" The boy trailed off as his eyes widened. "Davis! You're a genius!"

 "I am?"

"Yes! You've just given me a plan that will save that village!"

***

"Yes! Excellent!" exclaimed the Digimon Emperor as he watched his monitors as his minions pummeled the Digidestined and their Digimon. "Soon I will be rid of those annoying thorns in my side once and for all!"

As the cloaked figure erupted into a fit of evil laughter, he was interrupted by a smug voice behind him.

"Man, we were trying for tormenting and we only get 'annoying'? We're losing our touch." 

"What?" Screamed the Emperor as he whirled around and saw something that wasn't possible. Before him stood the Digidestined and their Digimon, totally unscathed and ready for battle, "Impossible! You're outside! How are you in here and out there?" 

Izzy just smirked. "You know, you should put better encryption on your video channels. Or else someone could hack in and trick you by looping the signal," was the only thing he offered as an explanation to the stunned questions. 

 The Emperor turned back to his control panel and tapped a sequence of keys until the whine came from the wall and a section of it dropped away to open a window overlooking a smoking charred battleground littered with craters and dazed Digimon just recovering from possession of the dark rings.

The Emperor's eyes blazed fire as he howled, "Guards!" and then turned towards the Digidestined. "You may have fooled me but it will not happen again. You will never get out of here alive." As he spoke, doors all over the room hissed open and red-eyed Digimon poured out into the room.

"Uh oh, looks like we've overstayed our welcome," said T.K in a very powerful understatement. "Everyone blast anything you see and let's move!"

Cody turned to his partner as the other Digimon blasted the enslaved minions and any equipment they could see. "You heard him Digmon."

"You got it Cody!" said the insect drilling machine as he punched through the floor with his powerful drills.

With the amount of Digimon and humans inside the relatively small space of the control room, things got out of hand really fast. Explosions and energy blasts flew through the air and filled the room with stifling heat and choking smoke. Most of the combatants were fighting shoulder to shoulder often with the people they were supposed to be fighting without even knowing it. 

In the middle of the brawl Flamedramon dodged a punch and struck down a Bakumon. "Davis, this is getting out of hand!"

"No kidding!" he yelled back as he ducked a kick. "We need an exit fast!"

"Did someone say exit?" asked Digmon as he popped his head up from the hole. "I've got one ready and waiting."

"Perfecto! Common everyone! Let's get out of here." said Yolei as she jumped down into the opening.

As the rest of the team made their way out, Davis stopped and turned to the emperor, who was still shouting out commands like a madman, and smirked. "Hey emperor! You'd better get out of here because in a few seconds this place is toast!" And with that he jumped after his friends. As soon as he landed he turned to Flamedramon. "You know what to do."

His Digimon partner nodded, "This place is cooked. Fire Rocket!" and let loose with a huge fire ball and sent it back up the tunnel. After a few tense seconds the sound of explosions shook the tunnel. 

"Alright! Nice job Flamedramon!" said Davis as he patted his partner on the back.

But Shinobimon cut the boy's celebration short as he looked back down the passage. "I do not think that was a good idea Davis," said the ninja as he turned to run from a jet of red-hot flame that rushed back down towards them.

"I think you may be right," gulped Davis as he yelled to the others. "We'd better move!"

***

As the computer screen in Yolei's room once more that day glowed with the energy of an inter dimensional portal being opened, the Digidestined came back to the real world with their usual lack of grace and dignity. 

"Oooof," groaned Kari as picked herself up of the floor. "It was really lucky for us that we were flying over that TV when we jumped. Is everyone OK?"

Chris was the second to get up and surveyed the group. "Yeah, I think everyone's fine. It's lucky that we got out of there in one… Ack! Davis your hair's on fire!"

"What?" yelped Davis as he immediately moved his hands to his smouldering hair in a vain attempt to pat out the flames, "Put it out! Put it out!"

"Where's the fire extinguisher?" yelled Izzy as he looked around the room.

"Here!" said Yolei as she came back into the room with a full glass of water, which Davis quickly snatched out of her hand and dumped over his head.

Davis sighed with relief as the last tendrils of smoke dissipated into the air. "Thanks Yolei," he sighed.

"No problem Davis, besides, I didn't want my room smelling like burnt hair anyway," she smiled.

"By the way, did anyone see what happened to the emperor's base?" asked Izzy.

"Yeah, I saw it limping away from the village just before I went through the portal," said Cody.

"That's good, I don't think he'll be causing an trouble for a while at least," smiled T.K. 

Suddenly everyone turned around at the sound of two hands clapping together. "Well, it's been fun you guys," smiled Chris as he moved back towards the computer, "but I've got school in a few hours and I need at least some sleep. I've got to get back to Canada."

Izzy raised one of his eyebrows in clear suspicion, "Uh Chris, I think you left that a little late. Even if you get on the next flight, you wouldn't get home for hours."

Chris just smiled. "I didn't say anything about flying, I'm Digiporting. It's another small talent of ours, even though because only one portal can be open in one area at a time we have to travel to another area to get to where we're going, it's still faster," then he pressed his hand to the screen and gave a last wave. "See you guys later!" and then he was gone.

Davis stared after the now gone boy, still sputtering on the last drops of water. "I'm definitely never going to get used to that kid."

***

The End

Reviews aren't required but always welcome. 

~Jack


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